Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

774

MILITARY COURTS

MILLEATB

MILITARY OFFENSES. Those of fenses which are cognizable by the courts military, as insubordination, sleeping on guard, desertion, etc. MILITARY STATE. The soldiery of the kingdom of Great Britain. MILITARY TENURES. The various tenures by knight-service, grand-serjeanty, cornage, etc., are frequently called "military tenures," from the nature of the services which they involved. 1 Steph. Comm. 204. MILITARY TESTAMENT. In En glish law. A nuncupative will, that is, one made by word of mouth, by which a soldier may dispose of his goods, pay, and other per sonal chattels, without the forms and solemni ties which the law requires in other cases. St. 1 Viet. c. 26, § 11. MILITES. Knights; and, in Scotch law, freeholders. MILITIA. The body of soldiers in a state enrolled for discipline, but not engaged in actual service except in emergencies, as dis tinguished from regular troops or a standing army. MILL. A machine or engine for grind ing, sawing, manufacturing, etc.; also the building containing such machinery. An American money of account* of the value of the tenth part of a cent. MILL-HOLMS. Low meadows and other fields in the vicinity of mills, or watery places about mill-dams. Enc. Lond. MILLBANK PRISON. Formerly called the "Penitentiary at Millbank." A prison at Westminster, for convicts under sentence of transportation, until the sentence or order shall be executed, or the convict be entitled to freedom, or be removed to some other place of confinement. This prison is placed under the inspectors of prisons ap pointed by the secretary of state, who are a body corporate, " The Inspectors of the Mill bank Prison." The inspectors make regula tions for the government thereof, subject to the approbation of the secretary of state, and yearly reports to him, to be laid before par liament. The secretary also appoints a gov ernor, chaplain, medical officer, matron, etc. Wharton. MILLEATE, or MILL-LEAT. A trench to convey water to or from a mill. St. 7 Jac. I. c. 19.

•aeh commissions is commonly made up of oivilians and army officers. They are proba bly not known outside of the United States, and were first used by General Scott during the Mexican war. 15 Amer. & Eng. Enc. Law, 473. MILITARY COURTS. In England the court of chivalry and courts-martial, in America courts-martial and courts of inquiry, are called by this general name. MILITARY FEUDS. The genuine or original feuds which were in the hands of military men, who performed military duty for their tenures. MILITARY JURISDICTION. "There are, under the constitution, three kinds of military jurisdiction,—one to be exercised both in peace and war; another to be exercised in time of foreign war without the bounda ries of the United States, or in time of rebell ion and civil war within states or districts occupied by rebels treated as belligerents; and a third to be exercised in time of inva sion or insurrection within the limits of the United States, or during rebellion within the limits of states maintaining adhesion to the national government, when the public dan ger requires its exercise. The first of these may be called 'jurisdiction under military law,' and is found in acts of congress pre scribing rules and articles of war, or other wise providing for the government of the national forces; the second may be distin guished as • military government,' supersed ing, as far as may be deemed expedient, the local law, and exercised by the military com mander under the direction of the president, with the express or implied sanction of congress; while the third may be denominated < martial law proper,' and is called into action by congress, or temporarily, when the action of congress cannot be invited, and in the case of justifying or excusing peril, by the president, in times of insurrection or in vasion, or of civil or foreign war, within districts or localities where ordinary law no longer adequately secures public safety and private rights." Per Chase, C. J., 4 Wall. 141. MILITARY LAW. A system of regu lations for the government of an army. 1 Kent, Comm. 341, note. That branch of the laws which respects military discipline and the government of persons employed in the military service. De Hart, Mil. Law, 16. See MARTIAL LAW.

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